GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The folks over at the Grand Rapids Public Library made a fascinating discovery while digging through their massive archives back in March 2021, and are now sharing them with the public for Black History Month.
Thanks to a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the archivists were able to digitize some of their assets that had so far sat mostly uncatalogued.
Our library has an extensive past— founded in 1854 as the 'Grand Rapids Lyceum of Natural History', the collections have received countless donations from curious collectors throughout West Michigan.
As they were digitizing portions of their collections, archivists stumbled upon 69 'magic lantern' slides.
These slides were images printed or painted onto a small glass piece, which were then projected onto a wall or screen using a device often referred to as a 'magic lantern'.
With the assistance of Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks, the archivists were able to confirm the slides showed imagery from the Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University, during the very early 1900s.
“Booker T. Washington probably gave these slides to the city (of Grand Rapids) because he came through to do fundraising,” explained Dr. Jelks.
"These (slides) were things that you would take to show an audience... I'm pitching for donations, these are the things we've accomplished, these are the things we've done."
The school was founded on July 4, 1881, by Booker T. Washington.
It has become well known in popular culture for its founder, as the academic home of scientist George Washington Carver, and for the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of pilots who fought in World War II.
You can view high-definition versions of all 69 slides on the Museum's collections page HERE.
Dr. Jelks wrote a book called 'African Americans in the Furniture City'— in his research, he found that Washington traveled to Grand Rapids multiple times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in an effort to fundraise for Tuskegee, and to connect with African American families in the area.
Dr. Jelks has also found that Grand Rapids Schools Superintendent William Elson once visited Tuskegee in 1904.
He says, Washington "wanted young people to see, when they came off those farms, off those shared cropping plantations, people who looked like them and who had authority, who had dignity."
The slides show students and staff at Tuskegee in a variety of settings— in 'dairying' class, in basketry class, in machinery class, in history class, constructing buildings, among others.
"Booker T. Washington, had them (students) build the actual buildings," Dr. Jelks explained.
"The initial campus was built by students, and those are all math and science skills right there.
The slides are now on display in the Old Streets of Grand Rapids section of the museum, housed in the windows of their Voigt Herpolsheimer Co. reconstruction.
